After a slow start , Apple 's iPhone has jumped to India 's second largest smartphone supplier by pushing phones to Mom-and-Pop shops in the world 's fastest growing smartphone market .

Although Apple is still catching up to other smartphone makers like Samsung , analysts say Apple is finally taking India seriously .

`` In Q4 , Apple has turned out to be the number two player in India . And this means that they have done a significant shift in their positioning , '' said Venu Reddy , research director at IDC , the technology market research firm .

`` Suddenly , everyone was throwing their Blackberries , Samsungs , Nokias and everyone was kind of changing to an i-Phone , '' said customer Akanshya Balram .

Samsung remains India 's strongest smartphone brand , with 38.8 % of market share in terms of revenue , followed by Apple with 15.6 % , Sony -LRB- 9.4 % -RRB- and Nokia -LRB- 7.3 % -RRB- , according to IDC >

Apple 's success has been attributed to its ability to adapt to India 's smartphone distribution market , where most electronics are sold through small , family-owned shops . Mobile phones in India are not subsidized by telecom operators , unlike other parts of the world .

`` The reality of the Indian market in general is that the most of the electronics are bought at individual shops , maybe because of the nature of the buying behavior of the Indian market itself , '' said Gurvinder Singh , from Global Gadgets , an Apple dealer .

Prior to Apple 's change in strategy an i-Phone in India cost nearly 30 % more than in the U.S. , and customers has to wait as long as a year for delivery .

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Apple 's iPhone has become India 's second largest smartphone supplier

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Its success has been attributed to better distribution and promotion

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Samsung remains India 's number one brand in terms of revenue